Google Glass 2.0: Eight things to address if next-generation headset is to succeed

Glass may be dead, but Glass 2 is still on track for a 2015 release(Reuters)

With the announcement from Google that Glass has "graduated" from the company's Google X skunk works and is now in the hands of former Apple executive Tony Fadell, we offer some advice for improvements.

1. Use that partnership with Luxottica Group

I've used Glass on three separate occasions over the last 18 months, and every single time I was mobbed by people wanting to try it. They wanted to see the future but, more importantly, they wanted to be seen seeing the future. Forget looking up walking directions, shooting point-of-view video or dictating a tweet - they wanted a photo of themselves wearing Glass to put on Facebook.

But once the photo was uploaded and their entire friend list jealously called them a geek, Glass was handed back. They wanted a photo because Glass was different and weird and they'd probably never get another chance. This interest is good to an extent but no one wants to grab your new iPhone for a selfie with it, they just want to buy one and enjoy using it.

Google needs to change our perceptions of Glass. It needs to make Glass desirable as an object worth buying and using, not a novelty to be seen wearing once. To fix this, Google absolutely must exploit its partnership with Luxottica Group - makers of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses - if Glass 2 is to stand a chance of being desirable and not just a fun gimmick.

Get rid of the nerdy sci-fi connotations and make Glass 2 look like a pair of Ray-Bans.

2. Battery life

A tall ask for such a compact device but Glass 2's battery life needs to be much better than the original. People complain smartwatches only last a day but they'd consider this impressive compared to the original Glass, which could stumble through an eight-hour shift in the office at most. And that's just on standby - shoot some video, run an app or two, and Glass was dead within an hour.

(IBTimes UK)

3. Stop with the simulations, they're just not accurate

A popular misconception of Glass was how Google's promotional videos showed a crystal clear head-up display in your field of vision. In reality, the interface was impossible to see in bright light, took ages to get used to without hurting your eyes and was impossible to focus on while walking.

Apps claiming you could run and see stats on your pace misled potential customers with shiny, crystal-clear promotional videos when the reality was far less impressive.

4. Lower price

Being called the "Explorer Edition" and at first only available to app developers, we didn't mind Google charging £1,000 for Glass. It was, after all, a well-dressed prototype. But for Glass 2, the price needs to be much lower; somewhere just above Android Wear smartwatches would make the most sense. At £200 to £300, Glass 2 would be a product that Android Wear users could upgrade to, rather than something only geeks with deep pockets can get their hands on.

I accept that Google's research and development costs must have been massive to make Glass a reality but a price above £400 would be simply unacceptable.

5. Glass 2 should be sold as an upgrade from Android Wear smartwatches

Speaking of Android Wear, Google should pitch Glass 2 as a premium and much more feature rich alternative to the smartwatch. They essentially do the same thing - offer up notifications, let you make calls and send messages, show maps and directions - but Glass has the added extras of the head-up display and camera.

Would someone where a smartwatch and Glass 2? I'm not sure many would, but that concept isn't too far removed from someone owning an iPhone and an iPad - or a Google Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.

6. Pay celebrities to wear it, not geeks

Celebrity endorsement may sound like cheating but surely it's a better option than Glass being worn exclusively by geeks. I don't want to see Google CEO Larry Page wearing Glass 2, I want to see a Ray-Ban-branded Glass snapped by celebrity press on red carpets, and I want to see video shot by them on YouTube.

Actually I personally don't, but if our love of following celebs on Instagram to see what they have for breakfast is anything to go by, the desire to see point-of-view Glass 2 videos of them walking the dog must be massive.

Give Glass 2 to Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus - at least then it's in the public eye and isn't just something for geeks to get unreasonably excited about.

7. On that note, don't give one to Robert Scoble

If the mind bleach is wearing off, let me remind you. Scoble photographed himself in the shower, naked, wearing Glass. No one wants that. Not me, not you and not Google. Portly tech enthusiasts approaching 50 in steamy showers do not make good PR.

Glass fan Robert Scoble posted this image of himself in the shower after claiming he would never live a day again with the technology. He doesn't use it any more.Google / Scobleizer

8. Or, forget consumers and sell it to industry instead

The best uses for Glass I've seen are in industry. Pilots, surgeons, mechanics, engineers. Anyone who spends their days working with both hands, and who needs information beamed into their faces.

Selling Glass to millions of consumers is more attractive, sure, but that's like throwing mud at a wall in the hope some sticks. Design Glass 2 for industry, focus on the benefits it can bring to an interested few rather than a distracted, nonchalant many.